Tag Archives: chris robley

There’s a lot more to releasing a single than just throwing it up on SoundCloud or Bandcamp. And I’m not talking about distribution — though, ya know, (plug) you should totally get your latest single onto Apple Music, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and more. Global music distribution is important, but what I’m talking about…

What will Global Release Day mean for YOUR music? All over the world, the music industry is shifting towards a unified “Global Release Day” in order to deter piracy, avoid fan confusion, and help coordinate marketing efforts across multiple territories. Instead of album and single releases coming out on…

It’s springtime, so naturally touring is on the brain. CD Baby’s Twitter chat in April was all about touring. Then Kevin Breuner and I had a discussion on the DIY Musician Podcast about our best touring advice. In that same week Carlos Castillo sent me an article with tips on how to sell more merch on tour.

Lots of musicians are comfy-cozy when it comes to playing through their songs on stage, but they freeze up when they have to tell a story, thank the crowd, draw attention to merch, or ask for email signups. I’ve been one of those artists myself. In fact, I felt like I had a few “uhhh, what should I say now?” moments at my gig this past…

A closer look at the process for determining WHEN, HOW, and WHAT advertisements are displayed on any YouTube videos that feature your music. One of the questions we get asked most frequently by artists who are enrolled in our YouTube Monetization program is “how much money will I earn per view?”

If you’re one of those artists who thinks it’s enough just to be a good musician, check out Pigeons and Planes’ recent article “Things Every Indie Artist Should Know How to Do.” It’s a good kick-in-the-pants for anyone clinging to the very 20th-Century fiction (because it wasn’t true then either) that musicians can get by on talent alone.

Performance adaptability helps you play more music, earn more money, and build your audience. I have a lot of friends in Austin this week for SXSW, which means my Facebook and Twitter feeds are full of live concert photos. And one thing I noticed: in a lot of these shots, the bands are playing in some…

If you want bloggers and journalists to write about your music, and if you want to impress talent buyers so you can play more gigs, you need to make it easy for them to write about you or get a feel for your music by providing them with all the essentials. A few weeks ago, I listed…

Cards: the evolution of annotations. Have you used YouTube annotations to enhance your music videos? Well get ready for YouTube “cards” — the new, mobile-friendly YouTube interactivity feature that will eventually replace annotations. (Don’t worry, though; YouTube claims they won’t phase out annotations until cards can do everything that…

All winter my backyard has looked like one of those “north of the Wall” segments from Game of Thrones. Now that I can hear the faint trickle of melting ice, I’m just going to go ahead and declare that Spring has arrived two weeks early. Which also means it’s time to take a fresh look at your band website and make sure it’s up-to-date. Remember: most of the people…

When MySpace was the dominant social media platform for independent musicians (remember George W. Bush’s second term?), people got obsessed with numbers. How many friends do you have? How many times have your songs been played? The higher the number, the more legit you seemed. Labels, bookers…

At the Grammy Awards, Kanye West (once again) stepped onstage in mock-protest over the fact that Beyoncé didn’t win Album of the Year. Beck did — for his somber, atmospheric folk album Morning Phase. In an interview after the ceremony, Kanye said: “Beck needs to respect artistry, and he should have given…

There’s an article in the most recent issue of Performer Magazine called “5 Not-So-Obvious Revenue Tips For Musicians,” written by Michael St. James. I thought it was informative and gives some good tips, such as making sure you get vocal-only mixes of your songs (which can be used in remixes).

When something as pesky as LIFE gets in the way of your musical goals, don’t fight it; live it. We set grand goals for our music. Recording a classic album. Selling out a stadium tour. Getting a billion views on YouTube. Being everywhere, loved by everybody. Then life happens. Your dog Kiki gets sick. You get a promotion at work. You realize that staying in…

Managing merch sales isn’t the sexiest part of your music career, so I can understand if it keeps falling to the bottom of your to-do list. But with a new year approaching, it’s time to set some serious band merch resolutions! Maybe you need to get rid of that ratty old suitcase you’ve been keeping your CDs in for years and construct a better merch…

The Holiday Season is (practically) here, which means that a musical bonanza is about to begin. 20% of industry-wide music sales take place in the last six weeks of the year — and 30% of all sales on CD Baby happen during that same period. It’s a frenzy! And people are searching for all kinds of music during the holidays, so you don’t…

Why your age doesn’t have to hold you back in the independent music world. Youth has always been a component of popular music culture: Sinatra, Elvis, The Beatles, Madonna, Britney Spears, One Direction, Lorde — they all got their start well before the big THREE-O. And some of them were still in their teens!

‘Tis the season when you start to see Christmas decorations right beside the Halloween candy in Costco. That’s right, summer is barely over and it’s already time for holiday preparations. If part of your music promotion plan this year is to release some Christmas songs — and that’s always a smart plan, since people love to buy music around…

Some bands look at touring like it’s a vacation or a moveable party. That’s fine as long as you don’t go out on the road all that often. But if you’re touring regularly, you’ve got to be more careful about your health. Touring takes so much planning and effort that when you’re in the midst of it you’ll want to make sure everyone is firing on…

If you’ve affiliated yourself as a songwriter with a performing rights organization (such as ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC) and registered all your songs, you’ve taken an important first step in collecting the publishing royalties you’re owed. That being said, PROs such as ASCAP and BMI only collect one form of music publishing revenues: the performance royalty. In order to collect ALL of the royalties…